


Sandpaper

by mandaree1



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Character Analysis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandaree1/pseuds/mandaree1
Summary: Lena was a hard duckling. She could throw a wicked left hook. She could turn stone into home. She could go face-to-face with her Aunt Magica. It's soft she's terrible with. Lena rips soft things like a knife tears into butter- far too easily.





	Sandpaper

Lena was used to hard things.

Life was hard. It was her birthright. The stone of the amphitheater was hard, but it served as her bed more than a couple nights a week. People were hard, but so was Lena. She'd never been good at keeping her mouth shut. And she  _knew_ \- she  _knew_  that she could save herself a little heartache if she didn't spit acid at everyone within a five inch radius- but Lena had always learned her lessons the hard way. She might save herself some pain, but it only makes things worse down the line.

Lena was a hard duckling. She could throw a wicked left hook. She could turn stone into home. She could go face-to-face with her Aunt Magica. Hard was good. Hard was  _normal_.

It's soft she's terrible with. Lena rips soft things like a knife tears into butter- far too easily.

The McDuck mansion is hard. When she first sees its harsh metal gates, its numerous impersonal walls, Lena feels no fear. It's just an upgrade to what she knows- fancier, that's all. Likewise, Scrooge McDuck is hard. He's not someone Lena knows personally, but she gets the impression that he's a proud, stubborn old coot. Had things been different, Lena thinks they might have gotten along. But no. Life is hard. Scrooge is hard. Lena is hard.

Beakley is hard, but she's soft on the inside. She has stinging reprimands and a voice that could make even the most hardened of criminals stop and stare at their shoes, ashamed. She's a hulking figure, all muscle and height, but she hugs her granddaughter so gently. She doesn't like Lena, but she offers Lena pancakes and lets her come over to play. Even at her angriest, she's never raised a hand to her.

But Lena is hard, inside and out, and she always ruins soft things, even when they have a hard outside. It's only a matter of time until things change.

The boys are soft. There's no hardness to them. They've got a decent grasp on sarcasm, Lena will give them that, but otherwise they're as fluffy as the day they came out of their eggs. They hug and laugh and cry without any fear, and Lena isn't jealous of it  _at all_. It  _doesn't_  hurt how easily they accept her into the fold, despite her stinging appraisal. If they trust her that much, it's not her fault. She's never given them reason to.

Webby's the strangest of them. At first, Lena thinks she might be hard. She's got a nervous energy to her as she tries to befriend her, but she's also got moves. She can fight and kick and punch. Lena is amazed by the things someone half her height can accomplish. But she immediately goes for the hug, for the hand-holding, for the adventure. She's sandpaper- soft at first glance, hard to fight against, but otherwise nice. Webby scares Lena the most, simply because she's the one Lena least wants to hurt.

But it's useless to fight it. Lena's hard- her edges cut holes into the things she loves. It's too late to save herself from it.

**Author's Note:**

> My more character analysis-driven drabbles always feel a bit more awkward to me than my usual stuff. I think it's 'cause dialogue is my strongest point in 'fic. But that's alright! There's not nearly enough Lena content out there, and I'm always happy to add to the pile.
> 
> -Mandaree1


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